We the People versus Bad Policy

Whenever liberals take control of the economy, we end up paying more and getting less. I’m not just talking about Democrats either, as both parties share in the blame. GW Bush’s policies expanded the federal bureaucracy, not as much as Obama’s, but we entered the ‘Great Recession’ (read Depression) with growing debt and a failing economy. The Central Bank, aka the Fed, is making Big Wall Street rich with high profits through its Quantitative Easing or stimulus. Since the loss of the Glass/Steagall law, banks and politicians have become richer and more powerful. Look back through history to see why.

The depression in 1921 was quickly reversed by President Coolidge (R) using a-hands off policy. He insisted on allowing the markets to correct themselves and they did. John Kennedy (D) reduced taxes, freed business from regulation, and the economy grew. Ronald Reagan (R) and Bill Clinton (D) (in his second term) reduced taxes and regulations, and their respective economies soared.

The Progressive movement began with Woodrow Wilson (D-’13-’21) and caused the Depression that Coolidge extinguished. Hubert Hoover (R ’29-‘33) insisted on growing the government during the early stages of the Great Depression. Things worsened and Franklin Roosevelt (D ’33-‘45) exacerbated the problem by involving more government in the solution. The country went into a deeper depression. FDR’s many social and economic programs made the problem worse. With 25% unemployment, things began to level off in the late thirties only to collapse again in ’38. It was WW II that put people to work again and gave the economy a boost, energizing the country into the fifties.

What happened when GW Bush (R) and then Obama (D) tried stimulus, bail outs, federal expansion, and lower interest rates? High unemployment, falling labor participation, minimum business investment, and low consumer confidence resulted. The only groups getting rich and powerful were the recipients of the stimulus: Big Banks, Big Auto, Big Green, and Big Unions. Crony capitalism ruled, feeding Bureaucrats and Politicians with power while distributing the wealth among a few Big Businesses.

There are places in this world where non-crony business survives and grows, where the improvised move up the economic ladder, and where life is better. For example, students from Chile trained at the University of Chicago, under Milton Freidman, and used free market principals to pull the country out of a depression. Between ’73 and ’95, per capita income grew 2.5 times and inflation fell 6250%.

Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Australia, all rank as the top free economies. The US has fallen to 17th. Even Botswana, Africa, has an excellent economy.

What about Europe? Northern countries like Germany, Poland, and Sweden have economies that are just getting by while incorporating lots of government control and spending, but not strong growth. Southern Europe, for instance Greece, Italy, and Spain, all have heavy government spending, high unemployment, weak markets, and crushing debt. All of these countries would do much better in a free market system, but insist on socialism.

Overall, the U.S. is not out of its recession and economic woes. Taxes are high, real unemployment is high, credit rating is still down, artificially held interest rates, investment is slow, the Dow and S&P have artificially ballooned, all caused by government intervention.

Liberals and their Keynesian claim that governments are the solution to economic activity ignore the facts, both current and historically. Growth following the Industrial Revolution, through the Nineteenth and Twentieth Century’s shows how free markets enriched every American. History proves that today’s policies encourage poverty and larger gaps between the rich and poor. This is exactly what President Obama says he’s against with his diatribes on inequality. His, and previous leaders’, policies have reduced or eliminated many of our freedoms causing ruin. And we don’t complain! It’s the people’s government, not the government’s people!

The rights and freedoms of people have always made the difference in healthy and wealthy nations. Today the people of Ukraine are calling on their leaders to support the freedom of the EU system over the Russian authoritarian system of Putin’s. The people of Syria, Iran, and North Korea are exposed to deposits and know firsthand what it means to live without freedom.

The leaders of the U.S., the Executive and Congress, are not listening to the people because they don’t have to—they have their own agenda. One they say fits us best. They don’t care what the people want. Our ‘leaders’—the Executive, the Congress, the Bureaucrats—have the power and can therefore enable the corporate money to fit their wishes. The people be damned. Obama, Reid, Boehner, Lois Lerner, Clapper, have designed their governing policy and it’s not the Constitution. We’d better get used to it, or change it.

It’s time to change that culture. It’s time to take the power and jurisdiction away from the DC kings and queens. The country belongs to the people. The DC populace are our servants and designates. By enacting Article V of the Constitution, ‘we the people’ can take our government back.

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“The country is truly up for grabs, but it can only be brought back from ruin if we move it in a different direction. That must be our task. It is the only way to get America back to great.” Kim Holmes, Ph.D. Author of Rebound
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Combining straight news from a wide variety of sources with insightful opinion from our team of writers, Western Free Press has provided daily coverage of political, economic, and social issues in Arizona and around the nation since 2010.

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